1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for remote patient monitoring and assessment to facilitate patient treatment.
2. Related Art
In the healthcare field, it is important to monitor and assess patients. This is particularly the case where patients are not mobile and caregivers visit patients. In such circumstances, it is also important that treatment given, to patients by caregivers is documented and reviewed to ensure that patients are given appropriate treatment. This need is particularly prevalent in the field of in-home patient care, where medical personnel travel to a patient's residence to administer care. For example, patients having implanted infusion pumps are often visited at their homes by in-home caregivers so that they can perform various caregiving tasks, such as inspecting and treating implantation sites on patients' bodies, refilling drugs to be delivered by the infusion pump, and observing the patient's physical (as well as mental) condition. Since the care provided by these medical personnel is very important to the patient's health and safety, it is critical that the care provided is adequately monitored by appropriate personnel.
It is known in the art to provide portable, hand-held computer systems for use by medical personnel in recording patient medical information. In such systems, a nurse or other medical practitioner uses the hand-held computer system to record patient vital signs, observed conditions, etc. The data gathered by such systems can be transmitted to a central computer system (e.g., a server), where it can be electronically processed for storage as part of a patient's digital medical record, and/or printed or accessed electronically by a doctor or other medical personnel. Such systems are primarily used for data storage and do not-provide real-time controls on the quality of care provided by the medical personnel.